Drying Laundry on a Folding Dryer

[michaelman2]

I bet this has been mentioned in this forum before, however I could not find any evidence of it. Several weeks ago line drying was a topic and I meant to mention that I have one of the folding clothes dryers that allows you to hang garments to dry naturally. I open this thing up and hang 90% of my laundry to dry on it

I have a fan that I set on low and face it towards the set up and in about an hour, everything is dry. This is even quicker during the Winter with the humidity being much lower in the house.

Towels and such I dry to 50 to 75% dry and then toss them in the dryer so they will not be too stiff.

The fan makes the difference and really speeds things up.

The clothing irons nicely when done this way too![this post was last edited: 9/6/2011-00:07]

 

[appnut]

Michael, can you post a pic of this device in action and one without garments on it?

 

[michaelman2]

Hi Bob, of course. I should have done that in the first place. This is a stock photo of one I did not have a picture without garments but this is pretty clear as to the design. They are fairly common:

 

[appnut]

Thank you Michael.

 

[arbilab]

'Crisp' is great for sheets but lousy for towels. The mechanism of dryers breaks up the crispness. I've done line drying and it smells great but on certain fabrics doesn't feel that good.

 

[lavamat_jon]

"Clothes horses"

... as they are called here are commonplace, and is the primary way of how the majority of people at least in the UK dry their washing.

I hate towels dried on the clothes horse (they end up like cardboard, rather than slightly rough if hung outside), but for most other loads of laundry they are a quick and most of all free way of drying laundry inside.

I keep mine in front of an open window on the landing and stuff will be dry overnight... I can wash my work clothes the night before and it will be dry to wear in the morning - and providing you shake everything out before hanging up, crease-free too. The time of year really is irrelevant, as you can either keep the window open during the warmer months, or during winter the heating dries the laundry.

Not just that but it's also a great air-freshener - nothing like the smell of washing and your favourite fabric softener as it's air-drying!

I only use the electric dryer for towels, loads that I need dry that moment (e.g. if packing), or if I've had a laundry marathon and simply run out of space on the clothes horse - or if I'm just plain being lazy .

Jon

 

[lordkenmore]

I have been a heavy user of racks like this year round. My approach and policies vary from year to year, but I am consistently able to cut down on the amount I use the dryer. Someday I'd like to be able to air dry year round, but that has never worked out in practice.

The best arrangement I had was one summer when I lived in a small house with a semi-finished attic. I could leave the windows open up there 24/7, have my racks in the middle of the floor, and I could air dry without any worries about summer rain storms. (Something that has been a real problem this summer with my outdoor lines.)

I'll have to try the fan idea this winter. I bet it would help. One thing I did do years back was park my rack in the bathroom in winter. There was a heat register, and my-then room mate ran the heat pump blower constantly for air filtering. There was always air flow, and regular heat cycles. Clothes dried quite quickly.

 

[lordkenmore]

'Crisp' is great for sheets but lousy for towels.

Towels air dried are stiff. At times, I've tried various ways of getting them less stiff. But, overall, I don't really mind the stiff/scratchy towels--I've gotten used to them. (I keep trying to get them less stiff more for the challenge/fun than any other reason.)

I have, however, started machine drying hand towels some of the time. I read here the advice that a dryer can help reduce germ counts, and hand towels are one of the things I'm concerned about. If I either could have really hot water for laundry, or towels that could tolerate bleach, I'd probably also air dry towels year round. (Yes, I am aware that air drying inside exposes the towel to bacteria. But the stuff I'm really concerned about seems more likely to have come off a person who's used the towel before it was washed.)

 

[michaelman2]

Crisp Towels: That is the reason I mentioned drying the towel to 50 to 75% and then placing them in the dryer.

The Fan is the key here...hence the reason for the post.

 

[franksdad]

I dry my polo shirts and anything I don't want to shrink on a drying rack.  They dry nicely and are ready to be hung or folded and put away the next day.   

 

[norgeway]

I have one of those!

It came from Sears in the 50s, my grandmother used to set it over the floor furnace at night, and the clothes were dry by morning.

 

[yogitunes]

These racks are great for drying Polo and T-shirts compared to a hanger....for the not so wanted shoulder nipples......

We never had a dryer growing up, Mom was never one to use softner, but our towel hung outside were always soft.......I tend to believe because our washer only gave warm rinses, everything seemed to fluff up after the spin, compared to a cold wrinkle reduction rinse.....

I actually miss the winters of hanging out jeans and then bring them into the house and stand them up against the wall.....childhood memories

 

[westie2]

Hans what your grandmother di over the floor furnance is what both my grandmothers did.  I think my mother did too but when we moved into the new house we had a big gaage the she had the pullout closthes line she used in the rainy weather.  Even in dry freezing days she would hang things out to freeze dry.  SW Oklahoma is very windy so things blew dry fast.

 

[gadgetgary]

Stiff towels

Love them.

All summer long I dry my towels outside.

They are great tools for exfoliation.

Memories of my childhoold when we never had a dryer and everything was hung outside during the nice weather, and inside during the winters.

 

 

[westingman123]

I'm afraid I have to agree about stiff towels--LOVE 'em. Today was just about the perfect line-drying day, sunny and breezy. 4 loads later, the linen closet smells so fresh I can hardly stand it! Hurray for sunny days off!

As for the clothes horse, Mama had one, but all she ever dried on it were her stockings. Everything else went outside or in the dryer in inclement weather.

 

[appnut]

I'd have to have severqal of these for a couple of BobLoads. I"m lazy, I'll stick with the dryer.

 

[hotpoint95622]

hotpoint 95622

"Clothes horses"

My primary drying device, I’m lucky to have gas hot air central heating which the hot air comes out of ventilators in the floor, so I stand the "Clothes horses” over the one in the front passage and it dry in less than an hour.

 

[aquacycle]

The difference in laundry habits between cultures never ceases to amaze me. Over here, it's odd to see a house that DOESN'T have a clothes horses/clothes airer in it. Infact, I'd say they're more popular than tumble dryers as many people don't own a dryer. My clothes horse stands on my landing - only place it fits in my house. I tend to dry most clothes on it - jeans, t-shirts, jumpers etc - and just use the tumble dryer for the bigger items like bed sheets and towels that take a lot of time to dry and a lot of space as I don't have a garden. Wouldn't be without it

 

[spookiness]

I have 3

Of the wood type. I usually hang in my spare bedroom. With the ceiling fan on they dry pretty quick. In the winter time, I'll sometimes move in different places. Like the slight fragrance, and they do help humidify the home somewhat.

I never got around to setting up a line outside because the mosquitoes are so bad, the back yard doesn't get much air, and its too shady with trees that drop (and lots of birds).